Forty years of creative fiber play thread the work of Wen Redmond. From the beginning, intuitive piecing called her creative muse. Similar to Yosemire, a Japanese technique used to patch kimonos, Wen cut free angles in straight lines, matched edges, sewed, trimmed and continued. Expressing her love for textiles in quilts and art wear, she began playing with curves in this piecing technique.
The digital revolution wove her passion for photography, techology and fiber. Using silk organza, she layered images framed with fabric borders in a technique she calls Holographic Images. After writing and teaching about this, she created a
DVD to explore its uses in 2007.
With a long list of exhibits, shows and gallery representation in her repertoire, Wen cherishes being alive in the moments when, "you forget time and become one with the work. Flow!"
Wen's piece, "The Creative Hand," is part of the
2015 Quilt National. This work varies from her nature imagery, as it uses a photograph of an artist model’s wooden hand, printed on a substrate of digitally ready molding paste. Photograph was cut into segments and collaged, hand sewn using metallic thread onto a silk noil base. Hand painted silk organza, scrim, antique hook and eyes add creative accents.
This summer, you can also find her quilts at the
League of New Hampshire Craftsmen Annual Fair, at the Whistler House Museum of Art in Lowell, and participating in the
WCA/NH, Force of Nature at the Karl Drerup Art Gallery, 150 Main St, Plymouth, New Hampshire.
She is the
August Artist of the Month at Exeter Fine Arts, NH. (We'll have more about her Quilt as Art submission soon!)
From her years as a home economics teacher to workshop facilitator, Wen enjoys sharing skills with other quilters, inspiring them to make merry, and cherish the day.
Her personal studio space has evolved over time as well. She says, "I have had a number of studios in the past 40 years. My first
official studio was a small room in the back of our antique cape. Later I
learned it was called the borning room. A great place for creativity! I
crammed everything in there and it worked very efficiently plus I never
had to walk very far! But then I couldn’t get far enough away to view a
work in the distance. Slowly, I took over the large master bedroom and
moved us into a smaller bedroom. This studio was lovely with a large
table in the center made from 2 gorilla shelves on each end and topped
with a 4x8 piece of plywood and plenty of storage but no vertical walls
at all!"
(For those of you whose work is creeping over your
house like English ivy, you can probably relate!)
Wen continues,
"Eventually, I felt I needed a public place to hold openings, workshops
and be part of an artist community. I had 2 such lovely 4x8 tables, a
wet studio area, Gallery wall and storage for my crafts booth used for
selling. It worked nicely for about 9 years until I realized I liked to
work best in my PJ’s, the first thing in the morning when I was fresh,
or maybe I had just changed. So I dropped the public studio about the
time we built a new house. I now have a somewhat smaller studio but
vertical walls, functional set up, great light and next to a lake.
Perfect!"
The outdoors inspires and soothes Wen, and nature is a common theme in her work. take to the road or woods for long walks, or go to the ocean and allow thoughts and ideas to bubble up from my unconscious. Her art reflect this with muted, delicate and earthy tones and tonal mixes of nature
and especially of trees.
These days, her design process begins with ideas, simple drawings and a plan, but she allows the process to inform the work. She finds that sometimes letting go of the ‘plan’ and just arranging the pieces or even ideas brings one to a fresher, less stiff, and more inspired result.
Find more of Wen's work, inspiration and activities on her
web site and
blog. She also maintains an active presence on
Artful Home,
Etsy.
We look forward to her participation on the MA/RI SAQA panel on August 8 on finding your voice!
